"This is a wonderful story and a great book. The issue is of maximum importance today, since NASA and other high-tech operations are replacing systems management with 'faster, better, cheaper' approaches to space flight, with decidedly mixed results. Skillfully interweaving technical details and fascinating personalities, Johnson tells the history of systems management in the U.S. and Europe. It is a very important work." -- Howard McCurdy, author of Inside NASA Table of Contents Ch. 1: Social and Technical Issues of Spaceflight Ch. 2: Creating Concurrency Ch. 3: From Concurrency to Systems Management Ch. 4: JPL’s Journey from Missiles to Space Ch. 5: Organizing the Manned Space Program Ch. 6: Organizing ELDO for Failure Ch. 7: ESRO’s American Bridge across the Management Gap Ch. 8: Coordination and Control of High-Tech Research and Development